Agenda item

To determine a private hire/hackney carriage driver’s licence.

The driver in relation to this item did not attend the meeting. The Chairman said the case needed to be heard in the driver’s absence due to the primacy of public safety.

                        The panel considered the Enforcement Officer’s report.

            The Council had been notified by the driver’s employer on 08 May 2018 that the driver had been dismissed due to allegations relating to the use of illegal drugs whilst driving a licensed vehicle; four complaints had been received from customers in over one week, and during an inspection of the vehicle, cannabis was found on the driver’s seat by the employer. Members noted the driver’s imprisonment for 21 months in 2011 for the supply of drugs.

            In May 2018, a DVLA drivercheck also revealed the driver had received a SP30 offence in October 2017. The driver had not notified the Council of this fixed penalty notice which had led to him accruing 9 points on his licence, a clear breach of the conditions of his licence.

Members considered whether the driver remained a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold a licence, having been dismissed by his employer for allegedly possessing illegal drugs whilst driving a licensed vehicle, as well as breaching the conditions of his licence for which he had yet to be sanctioned. Members discussed the nature of the offence and revocation on the grounds of public safety.

            At 11:55, the panel retired to make its decision.

            At 12:05, the panel returned.

            The Chairman read the decision to those present.

            Decision:

The application before the Panel today is for the suspension or revocation of a joint private hire/hackney carriage licence number PH/HC2303 in accordance with S61 (1) (b) Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.- any other reasonable cause. The three year licence is due to expire on 31st August  2020. The driver had been employed until his dismissal in May 2018. It was the employer who advised the Council of this.

The driver has not responded to correspondence from the Council’s Licensing Dept and has not attended before us today. Given the potential risk he poses to the public we are dealing with this matter in his absence as we are satisfied he has been given every opportunity to attend.

We have had the opportunity of reading the officer’s very detailed report in this case, a copy of which has been served on the driver, and we have also seen, as has he, the background documents annexed thereto. 

They include:-

a.         Uttlesford District Council licensing standards for drivers.

b.         Uttlesford District Council conditions of licence for drivers.

c.         The driver’s application for a driver’s licence dated 29 May 2017.

d.         Emails between the employer and the Enforcement Officer between 08-10 May 2018.

e.         DVLA driver check for The driver dated 11 May 2018.

f.          Email to The driver dated 06 June 2018.

On 08 May 2018 the employer notified the Council that they had dismissed the driver the previous weekend due to a number of allegations from  customers relating to the use of illegal drugs.  On inspection of the vehicle  nothing was found save for smell of cannabis and the employer claimed to have found a small amount of cannabis on the driver’s seat during a routine  inspection of the vehicle the previous week. At this point we pause to note that the driver’s application form for a driver’s licence shows he served a custodial sentence in 2011 for the supply of drugs.

Contact was made with the driver, who claimed that he left his employer as he was not being paid enough money.  An email was subsequently sent to him on 06 June 2018 giving him seven days to contact the Enforcement Officer to arrange a mutually convenient time to discuss the allegations. The driver did not respond.

In the meantime, the Council carried out a DVLA drivercheck on the driver’s driving licence on 11 May 2018. This check revealed that he received three penalty points on his licence for an SP30 offence (speeding) on 11 October 2017.   He now has a total of nine penalty points.   He failed to notify the Council of this fixed penalty notice.

Condition 18c of Appendix G to  the Council’s Licensing Standards requires a driver to notify, in writing:-

“Any convictions, cautions or fixed penalty notices ……..within 7 days of the date of conviction, caution or the issue of a fixed penalty notice.”

In aggregate, the allegations against the driver are very serious indeed, particularly since he has already been given a chance by the Council in the granting of his licence. He has failed to engage with the Licensing Dept.  The primary function of this Committee is the protection of the public; the holder of a private hire/hackney carriage licence is in a position of great trust and we therefore have to be very sure that a driver is a safe and suitable person to be placed in this position and if we have any doubt then the protection of the public, some of whom may be very vulnerable, must come first. The driver has abused that trust. In this case we consider that we have no alternative but to revoke The driver’s licence under S61 (b) of the 1976 Act as he is no longer a fit and proper person to hold it and because of the risk we consider he poses to the safety of the public, in terms of the number and nature of the complaints made to his former employer, that revocation takes effect immediately

There is a right of appeal against this decision which must be exercised within a period of 21 days. Normally, during this period the licence remains in force, but since we have revoked the driver’s licence with immediate effect for the protection of the public this period of grace does not apply and he may not drive.  The driver will receive a letter from the Legal Department explaining this.